Pets for Legion is a Christian horror novel by Shawn D. Brink and focuses on a small town Iowa that has found itself plagued with an insidious evil. A new teacher by the name of Sasha James is about to find herself caught in the cross hairs of that very evil as it seeks to claim her. This twisted story will lead you on a merry chase in a battle of good vs evil. Who will triumph in the end?
Pets for Legion is the first book that I have read by Shawn D. Brink and it is also the first ever horror novel with a Christian focus. Normally when I think of horror, I imagine twisted evil, close calls with death, and characters struggling to survive. While this book does hold these elements, for me, there are a lot of missed opportunities to really play this up to really bring the “horror” aspect of the story to life. The story pulled me forward with a lot of questions as to why certain scenes played out the way that they do. The deeper I delved into the story, the answers were soon to be explained as the author draws the connections between each of the characters and their particular interactions. A prime example would be Clay’s failure to complete his task. He doesn’t wish to displease the chief, but he does, and so I figure things won’t go well for him. Well, when nothing really happen I was confused, but when the revelation comes it makes sense.
I feel that this story had a lot of potentials, but it just doesn’t reach that potential. There are some elements that just don’t make sense to me. Legion demands Sasha, but why? Simply for foiling Clay’s attempt to kill? I needed this aspect of the story to make sense. I kept waiting for the author to indicate that there was something unique about Sasha that would call for Legion demanding her to be captured. I also didn’t quite understand Legion’s desire to have her immediately. There is no timetable given for the chief to get her, but he heads out immediately and it’s not long before Legion becomes impatient with waiting.
In respect to time, this book reminds me of one of my favorite horror movies, The Collector. In that movie, everything takes place inside of an hour, but it feels longer due to everything that happens within that entire span of time. With Pets for Legion, everything transpires within one 24 hour period (more or less). It’s wild and bizarre at the same time. LOL! You get the impression of how strong Legion is to an extent because all of this chaos is going on throughout the town, but where is the reaction from the residents? The deeper the story goes, it gradually begins to shift toward a character who is strongly religious. Up to this point, I kept waiting for something darker, more twisted to happen. When the religious character shows up the author amps up the Christian overtones and themes. I don’t mind it really, but it begins to take over.
While the story continues to be a “horror” story in certain elements, the Christian focus becomes exactly that...almost the entire focus moving forward. There are a lot of missed opportunities to balance both aspects and have them play together to create a story that would have been dramatic, edge-of-your-seat, horror and still allowing in the Christian aspects. I understand the author’s goal/wish to show that through faith good triumphs over evil, but with that goal, you sometimes get derailed. At a certain point, even with a couple of surprise twists, it becomes all too clear what the final outcome will be. I wanted more nail-biter drama, that would have had me questioning what the ending will be.
Before this book, I think it would have been safe to say I had no idea that “Christian horror” even existed, and if I did know (subconsciously) I’ve never read any. I typically tend to shy away from Christian themed novels due to that they tend to be a bit heavy in pushing religion and faith. While this book doesn’t, in my opinion, measure up to what I typically classify as “horror” it does have some good elements. I think that there were missed opportunities to really bring the horror elements to the forefront and make this story truly thrilling. I’m not necessarily saying pump it full of more gore, violence, and other things that separate horror from the rest of fiction. More details in the right places to let readers know exactly what has been going on in this small town and for how long would have been nice. A better balance between the horror and the Christian needed to be struck, because at the end of the day, the Christian aspect ended up overpowering the rest and making it more of a story about faith standing up to evil.
Small details can make a big difference in a book, and I think in this book’s case it causes it to fall a bit flat in the end. From a horror story aspect, this book hits at a 3 out of 5 stars. It’s okay, but it’s not that great. When it comes to the Christianity angle of the story I’d say that it hits higher even if it does get a bit preachy in places. For a Christian novel I’d say that this book would probably be a little higher than a 4 out of 5 stars. Overall, due to the imbalance (leaning more Christian) and lack of details to truly flesh out the storyline I’m rating this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. The story doesn’t 100% live up to the title for me. If you love horror stories for the scares, the thrills, and the true creepiness then this book probably won’t be a good fit for you. If you enjoy stories of where good triumphs over evil and you get a happy ending, then this is probably the book for you.
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